At a Bible Study the other night one person reflected on what maturity meant to her.
She commented how, when she was young, everything was black-and-white, but that now she had learned (and was still learning) to be more discerning and that life was more nuanced than this.

In the context in which we were speaking she was right. Another had just referred to a church where, simply for leaving that “fellowship” and going to another church, someone they knew had been disfellowshipped, not only by the leadership of the “church” they had left, but by many of the members as well, and even by those in their own family.
I have observed this myself in some churches I have known. This is so wrong, not least because it escalates a difference of opinion to the same level as grave moral sin – for which the Bible does call upon us “not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral” (1 Cor 5:11).

Those who see everything as black-and-white lose all sense of proportion. Not only do they see any disagreement as sin on the other person’s part, but they fail to discern that  “some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others” (Shorter Catechism Q.83).
It is not mature to see everything as black-and-white; sometimes there are shades of grey.

But like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress we walk an “exceeding narrow pathway” where there is not only “a very deep ditch” on one side to avoid, but a “dangerous mire” on the other.

“Good Christian was the more put to it; for when he sought, in the dark, to shun the ditch on the one hand, he was ready to tip over into the mire on the other; also, when he sought to escape the mire, without great carefulness he would be ready to fall into the ditch.”

It is not a mark of maturity to see every issue in shades of grey;  this is no more mature than seeing everything as black-and-white.
Maturity is to avoid both the ditch on the one side, and the mire on the other. It is not learning to see everything as a shade of grey, but rather learning to discern the difference between what really is black-and-white and what is grey.

But many today find this increasingly difficult. Many younger people especially are under increasing pressure to avoid conflict and justify the moral values of the godless culture around them by reducing everything to shades of grey.
As in Peter’s day, there is enormous pressure upon us not to be considered strange: “They think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.” (1 Pet 4:4)

We see this, for example, in the issue of same-sex “marriage”.
The well-known Christian author, Joshua Harris, once championed Christian values of sexual purity – until, in his 30’s, over a period of time, he gradually succumbed to the world around him, threw over any Christian testimony and instead began to advocate for the same-sex culture.
Another person I knew as a professing Christian in her younger days, recently announced she was entering into a same sex union. She quickly received congratulations from any number of her peers – some of whom also profess to be Christians, but who once clearly understood that this was black-and-white sin. But now, they have found a way to argue so that it “seems right” to them (Prov 14:12).

Yet the danger can be just as great for older Christians. It is not just the hair on one’s head that turns grey, but what’s inside one’s head as well.
I remember visiting a household in our neighbourhood once to share the gospel. I was met by an elderly couple who shared with me that once they had been “Christians”, but now, no longer.
“What changed,” I asked. “Well, once we held to what the Bible teaches; we believed the practice of homosexual acts was wrong. But when our son came out practising as gay, we could no longer believe the Bible.”
In the end, their standard of right and wrong was determined by sentiment, not by truth. As their hair grew grey, so did their moral standards.

But it need not be so. I am greatly encouraged when I hear of “those who are planted in the house of the LORD who still bear fruit in old age; who are fresh and flourishing, to declare that the LORD is upright; that He is their rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (Psalm 92:13-15)
In this regard, it was refreshing to read Peter Barnes’ “Nearly the Last Word” that he wrote to his congregation before he retires as minister of Revesby Presbyterian Church at the end of the year.

I have known Peter pretty much my whole life, since we were in Sunday School, and later Youth Group. And though there have been many years where our paths have not crossed, I have followed with interest how the Lord has used him.
Peter is currently Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and has been one of those used by the Lord to help bring back that denomination out of the spiritual wilderness it was in for much of the last century, till today it has become mostly, if not uniformly, a lot more evangelical and Biblical.

Nearly the Last Word

by Peter Barnes

As the Vandals threatened Hippo in 430, Augustine – who was close to the end of his own life – confessed to his congregation: ‘I am a long-winded old man’. Throughout his life, he had lamented often enough that ‘My own speech almost always displeases me.’ Looking back over nearly 43 years of preaching and writing, I can relate to Augustine in those two ways at least. This is the last editorial for a congregational newsletter, but, God willing, it will not be the last Word, but only ‘nearly the last Word’. Words have piled up over the years – from the pulpit, in Scripture classes and Bible studies, in Church History lectures, in articles both long and short, even in unpublished rants to newspapers. Some was written in haste; some had more time for contemplation and study. All of it could have been clearer or better-expressed. Some of the worst efforts had a more vital effect than others that might have appeared more polished. Yet all these words have been meant to have pointed to the Word written (the Bible) and the Word made flesh (Christ).

The Word written covers every area of life. It assures the ageing Christian that ‘They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green’ (Ps.92:14). This may be done in advanced decrepitude, in pain and much discomfort, and even in dementia. It is common to hear sentiments along the lines of ‘Retirement means that you can now do what you like.’ To the Christian, there is change but not retirement: ‘For me to live is Christ’ (Phil.1:21), which means in work and out of work.

In his diary, Andrew Bonar wrote: ‘Imperfection stamped upon everything I ever undertook.’ That is our lament, but God does assure us that the treasure of the gospel has been entrusted to jars of clay – to sinful human beings – in order to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Cor.4:7). That is not a refuge for the lazy, but a comfort to the meek and lowly.

What should a pastor be saying as he nears the end of his public pastoral ministry? The same as he would hope to say on his deathbed! The Word written and the Word preached are to proclaim the Word made flesh. Charles Wesley captured it perfectly:

Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His Name;
Preach Him to all, and cry in death,
‘Behold, behold the Lamb!’

That is the first word and the last word. The risen Christ who has defeated death forever, and reigns at the right hand of the Father is also the One who was sacrificed once and for all to pay the dreadful death penalty for sin. The Lion is also the Lamb. This is not to be put into the category of ‘a pastor’s opinion’. If Christ is not your Lamb (the One who died for your sins), He will always be your Lion (the Lord who rules as the Sinless One over all sinners). In fact, it is worse than that for those outside of Christ. They experience ‘the wrath of the Lamb’ (Rev.6:16). This is the wrath that need never have been, for it is the wrath of the Lamb who died for sinners – but not for those who take refuge in themselves.

It is the most sombre of sins to reject Christ, and in effect, to call God a liar. The apostle John will not let us get away with trying to argue just for a little room in the public arena for the Christian faith. This is a matter of life or death forever. John writes: Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:10-12). This ‘nearly last word’ is eternally serious, and wonderfully simple.

With Warmest regards in Christ
Peter Barnes